Shifting baselines

An international project by Nagib Association, Goethe-Institut Ljubljana and the Austrian Cultural Forum

Shifting Baselines is an international multi-year project opening up multidimensional perspectives by linking theoretical and scientific reflections with artistic practices. The term "shifting baselines" originally comes from natural science (marine and fisheries research), which was particularly well received and researched by the sociological discourse and then transferred to social science contexts and culture. The Shifting Baselines project aims to observe and reflect upon transformational processes, describing them as relationships between perceptions, values and patterns of action on the one hand and as a changing environment on the other. Social psychologist Harald Welzer explains this relationship as that of two sliding reference points, as, for example, two trains travelling on parallel tracks at the same speed, which therefore seem to stand still relatively to one another. The processes of change transforming social framework conditions are often not recognised by the people or societies affected by them, because at the same time – and just as unknowingly – the perceptions, values and patterns of action of these people or societies change as well. Consequently, even historically relevant events or changes are often not recognised or dealt with at the moment of their occurrence. 

As part of the Maribor Theatre Festival artists and scientists from Germany, Austria, and Slovenia will come together and work at the Maribor Puppet Theatre from 16 to 19 October. To grasp the phenomenon in all its dimensions, we are planning a four-day artistic-scientific research with two public events, in which we will take the audience on an experimental journey of "shifting baselines" in a physical, theoretical, visual, and performative sense by opening up multidimensional perspectives.

Artists and scientists
Daphne Büllersbach, Sandra Chatterjee, Jan Tage-Kühling, Robert Läßig, Andrea Sodomka, Blaž Ploj, Elena Messner, Jovita Pristovšek, Martin Pogačar, Simon Belak, Katja Legin, Anja Bornšek, Pablo Leiva, Tomaž Tomljanović, Matthias Wanner

Curators of the project
Mona Schwitzer, Petra Hazabent, Philipp Krüger

16. 10. 2019 / 17.00 / Minoritska cerkev
Shifting Baselines: Theoretical Meeting and Physical Introduction for the Audience

19. 10. 2019 / 18.00 / Lutkovno gledališče Maribor
Shifting Baselines: Immersive Theatre